Hermes Grullon

What has shaped me most in my life has been my first home. I grew up in Marlboro Projects in Brooklyn,NY. A place that has forced me to become a man while I was young. Learning at 12 years old that I had to walk with my head high and never show no fear. Fear is seen as a sign of weakness and will be preyed on. There’s a mentality of the neighborhood that is attached to the social circumstances that are prevalent. The demographics being a predominately African Americans and Caribbeans there is an exclusion and an instilled hatred towards any other racial group.Opened minded to others is not something associated with the neighborhood. This is a close knit and almost a family like place that for those in these 24 buildings can rely on anything. You may even go as far as saying the people are very autonomous in their everyday actions. I learned to love and fight for my neighborhood. Nothing was better than my neighborhood and no one could tell me different. Fear is something that Ilearned was not accepted. But I learned once you left the neighborhood you are excluded from this community. The only family for this community is the people in it because that’s all they can trust. Every where I go I continue to walk with my head high and fear is never an emotion that I can reveal.